OPC is delighted to announce its successful registration as an approved vendor with the Egyptian Ministry of Oil & Gas. This registration enables operators to recover the costs of using OPC services in Egypt against their operations, in a market which is flourishing following several large gas discoveries including the super-giant Zohr gas field by ENI in August 2015.

As part of the registration process, OPC has formed a partnership with Elba Group, a local services company providing us with access to local support, infrastructure, environmental and logistics services in order to provide a more comprehensive service to OPC clients in Egypt.

Riley Smith, OPC Manager – MENA, recently visited Egypt and said “Egypt is an exciting country for us, we have spent a significant amount of effort establishing our presence there. During my visit I was fortunate enough to meet with several senior officials of GANOPE, EGPC and EGAS, the three regulatory bodies under the Ministry of Oil & Gas as well as numerous operating companies. There is a real appetite from the government to attract new foreign companies who can add value to the supply chain in terms of technology or expertise. We have a great local partner and through this partnership we have inherited very strong relations with the 3 regulatory organisations and we intend to support them where we can, both in helping attract new operators to the country through the bid rounds but also support them in the training and development of their own staff.”

GANOPE currently have a bid round underway and the blocks available offer some exciting exploration opportunities, the increase in Egyptian E&P activity has caught the eye of companies throughout the world. Our registration gives us access to the Egyptian Information Centre enabling us to provide comprehensive, expert and speedy services to companies seeking to enter the market either through the exploration licence rounds or through a farm-in to existing production.

Riley added “Whilst in Egypt I was given a presentation by the GANOPE technical team on the 10 blocks on offer in the current bid round, 5 blocks in the Southern Gulf of Suez and 5 blocks in the Western Desert region, all of which looked to be promising prospects, and I would encourage any operators looking into Egypt to get in touch with us as we can without doubt provide an unrivalled level of support on assessing these blocks”

The information on Egypt below is republished from World Oil magazine October 2016

Egypt

The largest oil producer that is not an OPEC member, and is the most populous Arab nation, Egypt has seen significant industry advancement, despite the downturn. The Arab Republic of Egypt’s energy sector has been flourishing, particularly in the deep waters of the Mediterranean.

Eni discovered super-giant Zohr field in August 2015, in the Nile Delta region’s Abu Madi West license. Initial estimates indicated that the field was holding approximately 30 Tcf of gas. Eni’s historical find is recognized as a “game changer” for Egypt’s energy supply, as the country has been faced with energy deficits over the last several years. Consequently, Egypt had ceased all gas exports. Expected to come online by 2018, the deepwater Zohr discovery is considered the largest gas find in the Mediterranean Sea.

In February 2016, Eni completed drilling of the Zohr-2 well, the first appraisal well of the Zohr discovery. The well, situated in the Shorouk Block, is about 1.0 mi southeast of Zohr-1. In a water depth of 4,800 ft, the appraisal well was drilled to 13,684 ft and encountered 1,614 ft of continuous hydrocarbon column in a carbonate sequence, with excellent reservoir characteristics—1,000 ft of net pay. The company’s appraisal plan consists of drilling three further wells to fully demarcate the field.

Eni (50% stake), with BP Egypt (50%), made another important gas discovery in May, in the Baltim South Development lease, also in the East Nile Delta. Drilled in a water depth of 82 ft, the Baltim SW-1 exploration well reached a TD of 12,303 ft, and encountered approximately 205 ft of net gas pay in high-quality Messinian sandstone.

BP announced the discovery of Atoll in March 2015, and has since made significant progress in its development. The Atoll-1 deepwater exploration well—found about 50 mi north of Damietta City—had been drilled using theMaersk Discoverer semisubmersible, in a water depth of 3,028 ft. It reached a depth of 20,997 ft and encountered about 165 ft of gas pay in high-quality sandstones.

Atoll Phase One is now reportedly in an early production scheme, related to the recompletion of the exploration well as a production well, as well as the drilling of two additional wells and the installation of tie-ins. The wells are being drilled by Ensco’s DS-6 rig which arrived in Egypt, in May.

The increase in Egyptian E&P activity has caught the eye of companies, including Apache Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell. Their JV in Egypt’s Western Desert reportedly made plans to begin production of unconventional gas back in June. Shell is the unconventional gas pilot project’s operator, with a 52% interest; Apache retains the remaining 48%. Full development of the field—which lies in Egypt’s Northeast Abu Gharadig licensing area (partially owned by state-run Egyptian General Petroleum Corp.)—will have to be negotiated with government officials.

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